What is a RFP? Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are structured methods for organizations to receive competitive bids for needed products and services, and can be an invaluable source of new business opportunities through proposals for your company as long as you know what they are, where to find them, and how to make strategic decisions regarding them.

What is a RFP?

Quite simply:

"A request for proposal (RFP) is a solicitation document that an organization posts to elicit bids from potential vendors in order to procure a product or service through the responding business proposals. The RFP process is meant to bring structure and transparency to the procurement decision, while reducing risk through open requirements and discussion."

There are a number of variations on Requests for Proposals (RFPs), namely:

Request for Quotations (RFQ)

Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

Request for Information (RFI)

Request for Tender (RFT)

Where can I find RFPs?

If you're looking for government or "public" RFPs issued by organizations governed by public procurement laws, you can always find those RFPs posted on the originating organization's website as it is almost always a requirement. For example, any City, State, or government agency typically has a purchasing or procurement section of their website for RFPs. The same generally holds true for public colleges and universities. There are also a number of private services that will sell you this same information on a subscription basis (running from $20/month to $500/month such as FindRFP and Onvia).

This doesn't typically apply for private companies or non-profit organizations, who are under less restrictions and might not publicly post their RFPs to their website. In many cases you need to contact (or be contacted by) the company to get placed on their "approved vendors" list and be notified of procurement opportunities.

The RFP Database is the only site that has a variety of government RFPs, non-profit RFPs, and even RFPs from for-profit companies, but does not charge a subscription fee.